In the evening, Dr. Merar dropped by the ranch once more to check on his patient’s progress. Heath’s bright complexion and sparkling eyes were signs that the boy was fast on the road to recovery. He was fed a light meal then given a spoonful of laudanum to help him find restful sleep. Heath fought the drowsiness until Nick promised the two stallions would be his to break once he’s back on his feet.

The next evening after supper, Victoria helped Heath downstairs to join the family. With her arm draped over her still wobbly son, she assisted him to the living room where Nick and Audra were sharing a friendly game of chess while waiting for her date to arrive.

“Hey, look who’s up!” Nick enthused as he stood up and walked over to them.

“Feels great to be out of my room.”

“You alright?” Nick asked as he took over for his mother by taking Heath’s arm and leading him toward the sofa.

“Fine Nick. Just got to get my legs back, is all.”

“I think you’d better sit down, Heath.”

“No Mother, I’d rather stand for a spell.”

“Want me to fix you a drink?”

“Much obliged, Nick.”

As Nick stepped over to the bar, Silas answered a knock at the door. Payton entered, looking as dashing as he did the first time he came calling for Audra. He was slightly perturbed by Heath’s presence after being told of the gravity of the injury. But there he was, standing with his arm in a sling, cheerily clinging glasses with his brother, a pleasure he used to share with his own sibling.

His conscience was urging him to spring into action tonight. He felt his heart throb against his ribcage and his breathing increase as he pictured the scene slated to unfold tonight at his cabin. Every detail had been carefully processed. He only needed the bait to lure the prey into his trap and there she was, smiling at him. She tucked her arm into his as they walked out the do.

After a late dinner, Payton and Audra took the main thoroughfare out of town. Instead of engaging in the fork leading to the Barkley ranch, Payton veered over to the left at the junction. Audra became slightly disturbed by the sudden change of direction.

“Payton, I think you missed the turn to the ranch,” she informed casually so not to arouse suspicion about her qualms.

“No I didn’t. I thought I’d take you back to my cabin first. I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh I don’t know. It’s getting late and my family will form a posse if I’m not at the house by midnight.”

“It won’t take long.” He smiled reassuringly at her and flicked the horse at a canter.

When they arrived at his cabin, Payton gallantly assisted Audra down the buggy and with one arm around her waist, ushered her inside. He lit a lamp and pulled up a chair for her to sit.

The unsuspecting decoy glanced around the sparsely furnished dwelling with a look of disdain that she strived to mask in front of her beau. She picked up an eerie vibration that sparked a glimmer a fear, prompting her to skip the small talk and broach the subject of the surprise. “You said something about a surprise?”

“Yeah. That!” Payton grabbed her by the neck and covered her mouth and nose with a rag imbued with ether. With wild eyes, Audra tried to bolt upright but was no match for Payton’s strong constitution who applied his full weight into keeping her down on the chair. She flung her arms backwards and dug her nails into his arms, wiggling to wrench herself free of his grasp, her screams stifled by the cloth. Her head slumped sideways as she unwillingly surrendered to the effect of the substance.

He picked her up and carried her to the sofa. He brushed back the loose lock on her forehead and gazed tenderly at her. “I’m sorry Audra. Truly I am. But it’s the only way.” He leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, then returned to the kitchen to scribble down a note.

At the Barkley mansion, the traditional billiard game had been cancelled on account of Heath’s bad arm. Victoria was knitting on the sofa, nervously glancing up at the clock ticking down to midnight. Heath was ensconced in an armchair, engrossed in a history book while Nick was lost in his thoughts, absently twirling his whiskey in the glass with one hand while the other rested on the fireplace mantle.

“Something’s not right,” Nick said, breaking the silence.

Victoria and Heath looked up at him. “What is it, Nick?” Victoria asked with confusion.

“The story that Wells kid fed us. It just doesn’t add up.”

“What are you talking about?” Heath asked.

“The morning you were shot, he was here at the house. When I asked why he wasn’t at the orchard he told me he’d been two miles down the road when he heard the gunshot. Spooked his horse that threw a shoe then came by to fix it.”

“So?”

“So? Think about it. He was two miles back, he couldn’t have possibly have hear the shot that far. An echo, maybe, but can’t be loud enough to spook a horse, let alone think somebody’s shooting at you.”

“Maybe he miscalculated the distance,” Heath surmised.

“Yeah maybe. But he had no business being on that road in the first place. The orchard’s the opposite way.”

“Did you ask him?”

“No I just figured out the chink. He knows something we don’t. That boy’s a mystery to me and I hate it.”

“Isn’t it possible that you are overreacting because the young man is courting your sister?” Victoria amicably pointed out to her twitchy son.

“I just don’t like him, Mother.” Nick answered with a pout. He then turned to Heath who was staring vacantly in front of him, with a clenched fist over his mouth. “Heath what about you? You’ve worked with Wells. What do you make of him?” Heath remained silent, focused on his thoughts. “Hey Heath!” Nick shouted.

Heath slowly lifted his faraway look to stare at Nick. “I think I’ve seen him before.”

Nick arched an eyebrow. “When?”

“That’s just it, I can’t remember. But that night, when he came to pick up Audra, he threw me a dirty look that chilled me.”

“It may very well be the one who shot you. That would explain why his story doesn’t hold up.”

“Nicholas! Before you go accusing anyone, you ought to make sure you….” Victoria’s words caught in her throat as she gasped at the crashing noise of glass shattering. “What was that?” she exclaimed in shock.

Nick ran out the door and discerned the silhouette of a rider scampering away. He walked back inside to pick up the stone that had been thrown through the window. He unfolded the piece of paper attached to it. Flanked by Heath and Victoria who craned their necks trying to peek at the note, he read it out loud: “ ‘I want Heath Barkley to ride over to my cabin. I want him to come along or his precious sister DIES.’ Sighed Payton Wells.” Nick’s eyes darkened, blazing murderously, with the veins in his neck standing out in livid ridges as he crumpled the paper in his hand, mashing it into a wee ball. “What were you saying about this nice gentleman, Mother?” Nick scoffed between gritted teeth and a scorching look.

Heath started up the stairs. “Heath, where are you going?”

“To get my gun, Mother.”

“You’re not seriously going to show up with that busted arm?” Nick chastised.

“You read what the note said? If I don’t go, he’ll kill Audra.”

“Just wait a bit until I round up some of the men. We’ll ride with you.”

“Nick, he specifically said I come alone. Now if he sees you there, he won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”

“He’s just using her as bait.”

“Are you prepared to gamble Audra’s life on that hunch?”

“Of course not!”

Heath turned to head upstairs. Nick waited until he entered his bedroom to reassure his anguished mother that he and the men would be following Heath at a distance, close enough to spring into action at first sign of trouble. They were to surround Payton’s cabin and surprise him before he could harm either one of his siblings.

Victoria fashioned a strained smile and with a slightly quivering hand, stroked Nick’s cheek. “Be careful.”

Nick gently peeled her hand off his cheek and planted a huge kiss in the palm. “I will. I’m just sorry I didn’t it coming.”

“It’s not your fault Nicholas. No one could have known.”

He leaned in to kiss her on the forehead before heading out the door.

Heath exited his bedroom and thundered down the staircase with his gunbelt in one hand. “Where’s Nick?”

Victoria hung her head.

“Mother, he’s not coming with me!” Heath snapped.

“He said he would follow you at a distance. Please Heath, I don’t want you to go there by yourself,” she quavered. “We don’t know what this man wants with you but whatever it is, he’s desperate enough to hurt your sister.”

Heath finally relented and nodded to his mother’s heartrending plea. He held out his gunbelt in front of her. “Could you held me buckle my gunbelt. Kind of hard to do it with one hand.”

She smiled weakly and acceded to his request.

Audra was bound hand and foot to a chair. As the anaesthetic effect of the ether gradually wore off, she slowly emerged from beneath the surface. Her head hung heavily to her chest, dazedly swinging back and forth until she opened her eyes. Her stomach churned and a wave of nausea gushed to her throat as she lifted her head up. She swallowed hard between coughs to hold down the vomit threatening to spew out.

Payton poured a glass of water and walked over to her. He squatted down by Audra’s side and assisted her in drinking a few sips. “Feel better?

She moistened her lips and nodded feebly. “What…what happened? Why am I tied up?

Payton stood up. “It’s only temporary,” he said on an apologetic tone. “Until our guest arrives.” He returned to the kitchen sink to empty the glass.

“What are you talking about?”

Payton pulled out his gun from its holster and held it in the palm of his hand, marvelling at its power to steal a person’s breath as he brushed his fingertips lightly against the barrel. “You mean who?” He swiftly pointed the gun at her.

She gasped in horror. “You’re going to kill me?”

“Don’t be silly. I could never hurt you, Audra.” He flipped open the cylinder and rotated it to check the ammunitions. He snapped it back in place and took a seat beside Audra. “Let’s wait a bit. He’ll show up if he knows what’s good for you.”

Outside, Heath reined back his horse a few feet away from Payton’s shanty and dismounted. He hitched Charger to a tree branch and with gun in hand, he trickled cautiously toward the cabin. He stepped on the front porch, carefully flattening his back against the wall to have a peek inside through the window. His heart leapt to his throat upon seeing Payton caressing Audra’s hair with a gun in hand. Overcome by an implacable rage, he bashed down the door and burst in. He thrust his gun at Payton. “Drop it!” he ordered with a withering glare and a scornful curl of the lips.

Payton aimed his weapon at Audra’s head “Wrong! You drop it, Heath Thomson.”

Heath’s eyes briefly narrowed in confusion. With a sneer on his face, Payton cocked his gun and pressed the barrel against Audra’s temple. “Drop it, Thomson, or your pretty sister gets it.”

Time froze as Heath’s whirling mind weighed its options. His throat constricted when faced with no other alternative but to concede defeat.

“Drop your gun at your feet and kick it over here.”

With his smouldering eyes fastened on Payton, Heath obeyed with much reluctance. The gun slid on the floor toward Payton, who stopped its course with his foot. Payton didn’t bother to pick it up. Audra’s pained eyes darted between Heath and his gun lying a few inches from her left foot she had managed to loosen from its bond.

“Audra, you alright?” Heath asked.

“She’s fine, for now.”

“You have me, now let her go.”

“I’M the one who gives orders around here and I say she stays,” Payton lashed out at Heath. “You still don’t remember me, do you?” he questioned sarcastically.

With eyes squinting in confusion, Heath shook his head.

“Modesto, three years ago. You gunned my brother down in cold blood.”

Heath searched his memory of that period but drew a complete blank.

“Allow me to refresh your memory. He was six feet tall, dark-haired, medium built, small mustache. After you cleaned him out in a poker game, you killed him.”

Heath’s eyes swivelled back and forth as he attempt to retrieve the event buried in the deep recesses of his mind. It slowly surfaced and began to play before his eyes. He stared at Payton with a bewildered expression.

“You remember now.”

“You were the one who came running into the doctor’s office?”

“That’s right.”

“Your brother was alive when I left town.”

“He was, barely. He agonized for three long hours before he gave up the ghost.”

“I had no quarrel with him.”

“He swore to get back at you after you cheated him out of all the money he owned.”

“First of all I never cheat at poker. I don’t have to. And second, he should never have gambled in the first place. Nobody forced him to sit at the table. The sheriff saw what really happened. I’m sure he told you?”

“Pheu! He loathed my family from the first day we settled in town. He’d most likely side with a stranger to get rid of us.”

“Your brother jumped me at that saloon and hurled threats at me. I went to the stable to saddle my horse where he followed me and threatened me to fork out the money I’d won fair and square. I lunged at him, wrestled him for his gun. The sheriff tried to pry us apart and that’s when the gun went off accidently. That’s how it happened, but it’s obvious you want to believe your own version of the facts.”

“Because it’s the truth!”

“I’m sure you loved your brother and I know how you feel because I have three myself. I’d be mad at anymore who would want to hurt them, but not to the point of seeking revenge on account of a stupid accident.”

“On his death bed, I promised my brother to hunt you down and do to you what you did to him,” Payton snarled between gritted teeth, his hand quivering as he trained the gun on Heath.

Heath shot a sidelong glance at his gun laying on the floor by Audra’s foot. “An eye for an eye?”

“That’s right.”

“So you’re the one who shot me that morning?”

“I’m just sorry I missed.”

“Why do you need my sister here? It’s just between you and me.”

“I want her to see you suffer just like I did my brother.” Without any warning, Payton shot Heath in the belly. He gasped in pain and clutched his stomach as Audra let out a blood-curdling scream that rent the air.

The woods echoed with Audra’s scream. Nick and his men were nearing the cabin when he waved them to stop. “That’s Audra!

Nick leapt down his horse and baring his gun, he rushed to the cabin. He bashed down the door just as Payton shot another bullet into Heath’s body. Nick powered into him, knocking both guns out of their hands. He jerked Payton to his feet and drove a fist into his stomach. He was beating him senseless, fuelled by an implacable rage that blinded him to the fact that he was killing the boy.

John grabbed Nick’s arm as he was about to ram another punch into the blood-pouring slashed face. “No Nick! He’s had enough.”

“I want to kill him!” Nick spat, trying to wrench his arm free from John’s grip

Audra was wriggling and thrashing about in the chair, aching to be near her wounded brother. No sooner had her bonds been severed that she bounced up, her knees buckling the second her feet hit the floor. She crawled over to Heath, bathing in a pool of blood. Her quivering hands hovered over his body, afraid that her touch might inflict more harm.

When Clay and Hoyt got a hold of Payton, John slowly released his grasp on the raging bull who swiftly knelt down beside Heath on the floor. John took the victim’s pulse and shook his head dejectedly. Nick reached for Heath’s neck, groping his throat until he palpated a faint pulse.

“He’s alive!” Nick heaved out in a shivering breath. He then ripped Heath’s shirt open to stem the haemorrhage exuding from both bullet wounds.

“He won’t be for long, Nick,” John observed grimly

“Help me stop the blood flow!” Nick asked John who didn’t budge, knowing it was a lost cause. “Come on! Help me!” Nick lashed out to whip John into attention.

“Clay, get me some towels.”

“Sure.” Clay sat a wobbly Payton down on a chair, leaving Hoyt to guard him while he fetched the hand towels. In a sidelong glance, Payton noticed Hoyt was preoccupied with the trio toiling away to save the dying Barkley. He whipped the gun out of Hoyt’s holster and fired a shot in his arm before scurrying away through the back door.

“Damn! Get him!” Nick shouted to Clay who threw the towels at Audra and dashed off after Payton. “John, go with him. Nab that son of a bitch!”

“What about Hoyt?”

“I…I’m okay,” Hoyt breathed out, clasping his bleeding arm. “It’s just a flesh wound. Go!”

Audra risked a hand against Heath’s flushed cheek. She gulped down a wave of nausea as she strived not to faint at the sight of all the blood, now trickling down Heath’s mouth and nose. As she took a towel to dab the blood, she noted that Heath had stopped breathing.

“Nick, he’s not breathing.”

Nick frantically searched for a pulse. “He’s alive, Audra. His breathing’s shallow but he’s alive. He’s hanging in there.” Nick laid a comforting hand on Audra’s trembling shoulder. She turned to him with teary eyes and fell into his arms where she melted into tears, burying her face into Nick’s chest. He held her tight, rocking her gently to appease her fears. He inwardly berated himself for not showing up sooner to prevent this tragedy.

“I saw a wagon by the barn. I’ll hitch up my mare to it,” Hoyt offered.

“No! Hitch Coco instead. I’ll drive the rig home. You ride into town and get Doc Merar. Can you make it with that bad arm?”

“No problem, Nick.”

Hoyt hurried outside to hitch the wagon while Nick went to the linen closet to grab more towels.

Once Coco was harnessed to the buckboard, Hoyt swung on his horse and hightailed it into town. Nick gingerly lifted Heath into his arms, with Audra holding his head even, and carried him to the back of the rig where he laid him down on three layers of blankets that Hoyt had taken care of spreading. Audra knelt down beside her ghastly-looking brother and replaced the blood-drenched towels. She brushed a hand against his cold cheek and bend over to place a kiss on his forehead as Nick flicked Coco onwards.

Doctor Merar and Hoyt arrived at the ranch in record time. Hoyt was settled in the guess bedroom, delighting in Audra’s tender ministrations, waiting for Dr. Merar to finish with his grievously injured patient.

Victoria was standing at the feet of Heath’s bed, wringing the brass rail while Dr. Merar examined her moribund son. His rueful sigh and funereal expression conveyed his thoughts. She knew Heath’s fate had been sealed. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard as Merar edged up to her and laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Victoria.”

“Just…just do whatever you can, Howard. Please,” she beseeched him with tears escaping the corner of her eyes.

He tapped her twice on the shoulder. “Okay,” he whispered softly.

Downstairs, Nick was drowning not only the pain, but also his anger in whiskey. He was pouring a third glassful when he heard a knock on the front door. He plonked down his glass and plodded to the door.

“We got him, boss,” John said, hurling Payton inside.

Nick collared the boy and yanked him to his feet, then shoved him back into John’s arms. “Good job, boys!”

“How’s Heath?”

“Don’t know yet. Doc Merar’s still with him.”

Payton frowned. “You mean he’s still alive?”

Nick’s blazing eyes darkened and narrowed in contempt. Baring his teeth, he pounced at Payton and wrested him out of John’s grasp. He grappled his shirt, lifting him just above the floor to level him eyeball to eyeball. He dug his nails into his chest, ripping his shirt. “I ought to kill you.”

Payton wore a taunting smug. “Go ahead,” he mocked with a gloating pleasure.

“Why did you want to kill my brother?”

“He didn’t tell you?” Payton asked snidely, knowing full well Heath wasn’t in any shape to talk.

Nick swung a right into Payton’s guts, making him doubled over in pain. Nick began beating him hollow, but John gripped his arm before he could strike the fatal blow. “Nick, don’t! Let the law handle him.”

Nick reluctantly loosened his grasp on the dazed man, letting him slump to the floor. John placed both hands on Nick’s shoulder to steady him while he recovered his composure.

On the floor, panting, Payton summoned his last speck of strength to teeter to his feet. He twitched John’s gun out of the holster and trained him on Nick. Before he could pull the trigger, a burning sensation ripped through his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He staggered backwards, eyes bulging out at Audra who stood on the staircase, nailed to the spot, with a smouldering gun in her hands.

She stared stolidly at the lifeless body crumbling to the floor. She let the gun slipped out of her grasp and fall down with a loud thud. As Nick edged up to her, he could see tears streaming down her cheeks and dribbling onto her blood-tainted blouse. He stroked her hair and pulled her to his chest.

“It’s over now.” He glanced down at John who was squatting down by the corpse to take the pulse. He looked up at Nick and shook his head. Nick closed his eyes in relief and continued to hold a sobbing Audra as frantic Victoria hurried downstairs.

“We heard a shot.”

“Yeah. It’s over Mother. He’s dead. He won’t hurt anybody again. How’s Heath?”

Victoria closed her eyes and gave a slight shake of the head.

“No! No, no, nooooooooo,” Audra screamed, more tears gushing to her eyes as Nick held her tighter. “He can’t die!”

“He won’t,” Nick tried to soothe. “Heath’s not gonna give in to this guy.”

Nick’s words held true. Eight weeks and three operations later, Heath was back on his feet. He was allowed to do light work for the first few weeks, mostly working in the orchards, before the doctor gave him the green light to resume his favorite activity of busting ornery stallions.